Rest: Keep finding the silver lining

Well to be honest, it's been a rough week. But who really cares? I'm a very emotional, very expressive person (maybe that's why I blog?). So, if I didn't learn to get over the bad stuff quickly, I'd spend 75% of my life in my underwear, wrapped in covers in my bed, watching romantic European firms and eating frozen yogurt and potato chips. It wouldn't be pretty. So, instead of telling you about how I'm stressed about jobs, moving, running, writing, traveling, money and all my hopes and dreams, I give you...

THIS WEEKEND'S SILVER LINING

1. My dog is quite possibly the most lovable, and hilarious creature on earth. I know I'm a bit partial, but if you've ever had a basset hound, you know that they have more personality than I do. She really cheers me up when I'm in a bad mood, so I thought I'd be a creepy dog lady (I'm not a hoarder, I swear), and give her a little shout out. Here is a picture of her when she was a puppy (she's three now). Adorable, right?

2. After two weeks off, I started running again! My knees are still bugging me a little, but I am stretching and icing constantly and trying not too push myself too hard. I actually had one of my best runs yet on Friday. It was crazy hot (about 105-- and don't tell me it's just a dry heat until you've experienced 116 for three weeks in a row. It's like living in a freaking oven), but I ran about five miles (which is awesome considering the knee problem), did a few fartlek miles at a pretty fast pace and ended the run in a sprint. AND, I saw a HUGE lizard. It was super cool... and scary.  I consider this one of my better runs because I did so much speed work, put myself in the pain locker and caught myself smiling in the middle of it all. Sadly, my GPS chose to stop working so I'm not sure how fast I was actually running. But it doesn't really matter. I'm stoked to be back on the road (I hope this will last). Here's the view from the top of South Mountain (I run the canals at the bottom). I believe this picture is fairly old, but I like the eerie, desolate look of it.

3. I watched a ton of movies this weekend (of course it has nothing to do with the fact that I was feeling emotional). Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona is quite possibly one of my favorite movies. I could watch it over and over and over, and I can't say that about a lot of films. I'm a sucker for European beauty and passion combined with the whims of overly educated characters struck by trite romance. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. 

I also saw Inception. I see very few blockbusters in the theater, but this one was well worth the money and time. Although it had a bit of that cloying Hollywood cheese, most of it was absolutely amazing. It also gave me a lot of personal satisfaction for being able to figure out what was going on most of the time. It's pretty amazing, so go see it (But watch the aforementioned Woody Allan film first). 

So those are the weekend highlights. Who else has some silver lining to talk about (or just good weekend stuff)?